– Prepositional Phrasal-Verbs – Letter G –

Gg

(to) Come To Grips With/About – This is an Idiomatic and PrepositionalVerbPhrase which is used to mean: “To understand, comprehend, and finally accept some some information, which is either hard to comprehend, hard to believe, or hard accept”. The phrase means the same thing with either the preposition “with” or “about”, but it is more common to use “with”…

“People all around the world are finally coming to grips with the fact that their governments do not, have not, and will not ever give a shit about them; and that voting for new leaders is a waste of time. They will never stop being slave-masters to the mass of sheep which they see the people as.”

(to) Get Along With (someone) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which means: to have a good working or social relationship and to have “friendly” feelings with that person, even if one is not exactly “friends” with that person… “I don’t really know Boris outside of work, but we see each other in the office everyday and we have gone with groups from work before. He seems like a good guy, and we get along with each other pretty well.”

(to) Get Around [sex] – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which (interestingly enough) is used to say that a person has sex with a lot of different people, or at least is not exclusive to just one person and is not unwilling to have sexual relations with people who he or she is not emotionally attached to… “I don’t know why American girls are so judgmental, petty, and mean to each other. Apparently Sheila had went home with Ed the other night and now all the girls are saying that she gets around. Maybe he was just being nice and gave her a ride home!”

(to) Get Around To (doing something) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is used to mean: To finally start to do some project or obligation which has probably been on one’s list of “things to do” but has been “put off” over and over because other obligations or projects took precedence… “My website was “just sitting there” for a long time, and I wasn’t doing anything with it, until I finally realized how I could “put it to use” effectively, so I finally got around to updating it, and now it’s starting to look pretty good.”

(to) Get Away With (something) – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is used to mean: To not get caught or at least not get in trouble for doing something wrong or that one shouldn’t have done. The phrase (probably) comes from the days that bank robbers used to have someone sitting out front with a “get-away” car… If they managed to rob the bank, and “get away” without getting caught, then they got away with it… “it” being the money.

(to)Get BackToBusiness– This is a verbphrase is commonly spoken in two types of situations –

1. As a command to “Return To Work” (usually spoken by a boss or manager) when it has been realized that the workers are not doing their work.

“What the heck are you all doing?! You know you’re not supposed to be using facebook on company time! Get back to business and don’t let me catch you doing that again!” – (See Also: “Back To Work”)

2. Spoken by someone when it is necessary to return to the work that was being done before some distraction took one off course or after some break or rest.

“Okay, I think that what we’re talking about now, is not really relevant to the meeting. Let’s get back to business and deal with the issues we’re here to talk about.”

(to) Get Back To Work – This adverbial phrase is (usually) used as a command to “Return To Work” (usually spoken by a boss or manager) when it has been realized that the workers are not doing their work… “What the heck are you all doing?! You know you’re not supposed to be using facebook on company time! Get back to work and don’t let me catch you doing that again!” – (See Also: “Back To Business”)

(To) Get Behind (Someone/Something) = This is an idiomatic phrasal-verb which is used to mean, simply: To Support Someone Or Something.

(to) Get By – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which (strangely) means: to manage to have the bare necessities needed to sustain oneself in however that person is able to live meagerly, but not in a comfortable or excellent way. One may be able to pay only the most needed bills and to feed oneself and those who are dependent upon that person, but is not able to pay for anything “extra”… “With the way that the governmental organizations are blatantly stealing the livelihood of the people who they are supposed to be protecting, it has become very difficult to even get by. I’ve been able to pay for all of our bills every month, but we’ve been living almost completely off of rice, noodles and eggs. Even vegetables have become too expensive.”

(to) GetCaught UpIn (something)– This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is used to describe a situation wherein one gets involved in something (a group or project) that he or she was not intending to. He or she may not want to be in the situation, or were simply not expecting to become as involved as he or she has become. This phrase (in business) is usually used in a negative way, but it can also be used to describe becoming (unexpectedly) involved in something good as well… “I didn’t intend on becoming an English teacher, but it was the easiest way to get a visa, and after a couple years of doing it, I got *caught up* in it, and now I don’t see myself doing anything else for the foreseeable future.”

(to) Get Down [dance] – This is an idiomatic slang phrasal verb which (though not very popular since the 70s and 80s) means to dance with a certain amount of abandon. To really have a good time and “party like its your birthday”!… “Last night we went to a club and they were having a dico/funk/boogie theme night. I haven’t *gotten down* like that, since when I used to go to rave parties in my 20s!”

(to) Get Down To Business – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which means to start working on (either a project or just the normal work) with intent focus without distraction… “With all the new contracts that we’ve picked up in the last week, and the fact that we haven’t expanded our staff at all, it’s time to *get down to business* and start finishing up some of the contracts that we already have.”

(to) GetIn Shape – This is an idiomatic Phrasal Verb which means: to exercise and to condition the body so that it is healthy and in a much more appealing figure (shape)… “In America, people are always talking about how they really need to get in shape, but then they never do anything about it. And then to make things worse they eat even more because they are depresses, so now it is a country of fat, depressed, and unhealthy people.”

(to) Get On With (something) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb with means to continue doing something that was started previously or to start something that so far has only been talked about… “Well we’ve already gotten the preliminary steps done, we know what we need to do next. I don’t see why we are still standing here talking about it. Let’s *get on with it* already!”

(to) Get On (Well) With (someone) – This idiomatic phrasal verb is simply the British English version of The Common Tonguephrase“to get along with someone” and simply means: to have a good working or social relationship and to have “friendly” feelings with that person, even if one is not exactly “friends” with that person… “I don’t really know Boris outside of work, but we see each other in the office everyday and we have gone with groups from work before. He seems like a good guy, and we get on well with each other.” – (Also Note: the word “well” in the phrase is not necessary but it is usually said that way.)

(to)GetOnWith (one’s)Life – Similar to “To Get Over”, this phrase means: To continue with one’s life after some traumatic or distressing event or period of time… “Though I was greatly disappointed that I would not get to have a romantic and passionate love affair with Monica Bellucci, I realized that I must *get on with my life* and not spend anymore time being depressed about it.”

(to)GetOver (something) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which means: To heal from, recover from, no longer be negatively affected by, or no longer care about some situation that had previously cause one pain or suffering… “It took me a long time, and a lot of suffering, but in a single moment, with a simple thought, I finally *got over* the anger I had towards my ex-girlfriend.”

(to not be able to) Get Over (something) – This phrase (unlike “To Get Over Something”) is not talking about recovering from something. This phrase, instead, is used to express when a person has experienced something that was so shocking, surprising, or upsetting, that one is not able to stop thinking about it… “I just *can’t get over* the nerve of my boss! He actually told me that he was going to give Susan the promotion because she looks better in a short skirt than I do!!! Well, he’s going to have a hard time *getting over it* when he receives a call from my lawyer sexual misconduct and discrimination.”

(to) Get Rid Of (something) – This is an Idiomatic and PrepositionalPhrasal-Verb. Though most Idiomatic phrasal verbs do not have a logical meaning, this one actually does. To “Get” something, means to obtain it. “Rid” is a very old verb which means: “to be free of something”. So to “get rid of something” simply means to obtain the “freedom” from whatever “of” is referring to… It is often used as a expression meaning: To dispose of something; throw something away; or (when speaking of a person or some intangible thing – thoughts, feelings, etc.) it means: To free one’s Self from that person or thing, so that it is longer a burden in one’s Life.

(to)GetThrough To (someone) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which can mean one of two things:

1. To make a connection with someone – typically on a phone, but it could be with any form of communication.

“With the terrible storm last night the internet connection was horrible and I wasn’t able to *get through* to my mother on the internet chat program we use.”

2. For someone to manage to get another person to understand him or her – either with a specific piece of information or generally speaking.

“I just can’t seem to *get through* to the kids these days. They just don’t seem to care about anything other than texting, fashion, and video games.”

(to) Get To Grips With/About(something) – This is an IdiomaticVerb Phrase which is used to mean: To understand, comprehend, and finally accept some some information, which is either hard to understand, hard to believe, or hard accept. The phrase means the same thing with either the preposition “with” or “about”, but it is more common to use “with”…

“People all around the world are finally getting to grips with the fact that their governments do not, have not, and will not ever give a shit about them; and that voting for new leaders is a waste of time. They will never stop being slave-masters to the mass of sheep which they see the people as.”

(to) Get To The Point – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is often used as an interjection, to tell someone to stop speaking about meaningless, or un-important “extras” and “get to” the main “point” (most important part) of what that person is saying… “The thing that I dis-like the most about marketing videos and websites, is that they never seem to get to the point of what they are trying to sell.”

(to) Give Back To Society – This is a verbphrase which is used to describe when a person, group, or organization, does something which is at a significant cost to them but is supposedly for the greater good of society. The reason it is said that they give “back” is because, the people or groups which do this usually have become incredibly wealthy because of society’s money (either through a product or service, or because that person is a sports figure or celebrity of some sort… “A lot of wealthy people claim, to or try to give back to society by donating large sums of money to some charitable organization. But unfortunately most of them only do it to get a break on their taxes and it is often to an organization which is dishonest and only interested in collecting money rather than actually helping people.”

(to) Go About (doing something) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is used to mean the “way” or method in which someone does something. The way in which one goes about making a million dollars would be the methods, techniques and actions that that person uses to achieve that goal… “I think that the best way to go about getting from the first to the fiftieth floor of a building would be to use the elevator.”

(to) Go Against (someone/something) – This phrasal verb is almost literal however the use of the verb “go” does not always refer to movement but action. It basically means to counter, work against, or to think or do something which is opposite to what it refers to. It can also be applied to a person or something like a view-point, opinion, or action… “To accept less money for what I do, out of the fear of world economic conditions, completely goes against what I know to be true about the way the Universe works… If I accept less, then I will continue to get less… Therefore I, instead, accept more (and more, and more, and more…) 😉 Thank You Universe!!!

(to) Go Along With (something) / (to) Go Along With (someone) On (something) – Both of these phrases are the same thing. They basically mean: To agree with; support; accept something… “Will you go along with my plans to overthrow the head of the company and install a strict plan of nothing but ridiculous fun?” – “Hmmm. That sounds good in theory, but since I AM the head of the company, I don’t think that I can go along with you on that.”

(to) Go Around In Circles – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which can be used in many different types of situations, but is used to say that one (or usually a group of people) is wasting time/energy by doing the same things over and over again and not getting much accomplished. For example, in a meeting, when people can agree on something because of some point, and no matter how hard they try to move on and find a different solution, the debate always comes back to the same point that is not being settled (usually by someone or some people’s stubbornness), then they can saw, “We’re just going around in circles!!!”

(to) Go Into (one’s) Head – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is synonymous with meditation or deep thought. It can also be used to talk about someone who is or behaves introspectively… “In order to find the answers to life’s many questions, it is often necessary to go into one’s head.”

(to) Go Off – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which has a few different meanings, but since it has always been used for describing when a bomb, grenade, dynamite, etc. “Explodes”, it is often said that that is what it means. However we also use the same term to refer to an alarm (like your alarm clock.) This is probably because of the “explosive” and shocking feeling it produces in the first second or two after it goes of. However, this phrase is almost always used in the past tense… “The Bomb, Grenade, Dynamite, Alarm-Clock, Party went off.” (Notice also that I used the word “party”. This is a slang term for when the party was really really awesome.)

(to) Go Off On Someone – This (similar to the above phrase) means that a person was “explosively” yelling at someone… “I surprised the boss today by painting his office and all of his nice oak and leather furniture bright yellow, so he would be more happy (because it was too dark in his office.) But he had completely the opposite reaction to what I expected! He totally went off on me about somehow “ruining” thousands of dollars worth of irreplaceable items. He obviously doesn’t appreciate all the work I put into the project!”

(to) Go Off On A Tangent – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which, when referring to one’s speech, means to digress. But this phrase can also be used to talk about a person’s actions. In this case it means to stray from ones planned course due to following some distraction… “I often like to tell stories, so if I go off on a tangent, please let me know so that we can stick to the schedule.”

(to) Go Off Without A Hitch – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is usually used to refer to some sort of planned event, and means: To happen exactly as planned or better, with no difficulties or obstructions in any way… “The best party I ever went to was my own 25th birthday party, which I celebrated with another friend with the same birth-date. We rented out a bar and brought in a sound-system and completely filled the place without even having to publicize it beyond calling some friends, and the place was packed! The party completely went off without a hitch and the owner of the bar ended up not even charging us for the space because he said it was the best party that he had ever had in his place.” – (True Story)

(to) Go On – There are a few different meanings for this idiomatic phrasal verb, but the most general meaning is: “To Continue”. This phrase is almost always used in the negative sense, but can also be used as an interjection (telling a person to continue with what they were saying, or to give more information.)… “I told them, that if they go on misbehaving like that, they would be in trouble.” – “Go on.” – “What do you mean?” – “How would they be in trouble?” – “Oh. I’m not sure. I hadn’t thought of that.” – “Okay, we can’t go on making empty threats whenever they misbehave. If they do something wrong, they need to be punished.”

(to) GoOver (something) – This is an idiomaticverbphrase that means to review something in detail… “I need you to go over the financial statements from last quarter. Some of the figures aren’t right.”

(to) Go Over (one’s) Head – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is used in business or in any situation where there is a chain of command, to describe when a person speaks to the boss or supervisor of his or her boss or supervisor. In other words, skipping over his or her supervisor for the purpose of complaining about his or her supervisor. Or for the purpose of putting him or herself in a better position than his or her supervisor or boss… “I admire your ambition, but if you ever go over my head again, by speaking to my boss about your ideas of how I should be doing my job, then I’ll fire you on the spot.”

(to) Go Through (something) – (psychology) This phrasal verb can have a number of different meanings, both literal and idiomatic. However as a psychological term, to go through something is a way of saying: “To Experience” something. This phrase is usually used to talk about “negative”, difficult, or detrimental things… “Lucinda is going through a difficult time right now because she just found out that Santa Claus is not real. So now she has to figure out who broke into her house, ate all of her cookies and left her a huge pile of presents for her.”

(to) Go Through The Roof – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is used primarily to describe things like prices (the cost of goods) when their price increases incredibly drastically in a very short period of time. This is definitely an exaggeration but is also a bit of a joke, as the idea came from the use of charts that show either line graphs or columns. If some statistic (not necessarily the price of something) rises very suddenly you can see the line or column go up very drastically so this is to insinuate that is was so drastic that it was almost like it went straight of the graph and shot through the roof. This is also sometimes used to describe when someone gets so angry or excited that it’s almost like their anger (or excitement created so much pressure that they turned them into a rocket and blasted off through the roof. (However, this use is not nearly as common.)

(to) Go To The Ends Of The Earth For (someone) – This is an idiomaticverbphrase which is used to mean that one would do almost anything for another person, including going to the “ends” of the “Earth”. Which, of course should give an indication of how old this phrase is, as it is commonly understood in this modern time, that there is no such thing… But as most people wouldn’t even get up out of there seat on the bus for a lady or an Elderly person, this phrase says a lot for how much the person cares for (or is obsessed with) the other person.

(to) Go Under – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is used to describe when a business fails completely and is finished… “After the big department stores with cheap prices moved into town, a lot of the small family-owned businesses, completely went under.”

(to) Go With (something) – This is an idiomatic phrasal verb which is used to mean the same thing as the verb (to) “Choose” something… “After considering all of the job options, I’ve decided to go with the one that allows me to spend my entire days at the beach and evenings drinking wine on my roof-top patio.”